Style Guide Archives - MidMod Midwest

Mid-Century Bathroom (design) Advice

28 min readThis week it’s a bathroom remodel advice roundup to help ease your worries!

Planning the right update for a mid-century bathroom is about space planning and the right product picks, sure. But it’s also about your lifestyle, your morning routine and your five-year plan.

I’ve had a lot of conversations with Master Plan clients and on consult calls recently that caused me to notice some recurring issues and questions, things that come up again and again for a lot of people, which makes me suspect that if you’ve got bath questions on the brain, you’ve had some of the same struggles.

So let’s talk through some of the most pressing issues you can nail down to create a good mid-century bath update for you and for your house and for your style.

Nightmare Mid-Century Remodel Scenarios

32 min readIn honor of spooky season, let’s talk nightmare mid-century remodel scenarios.

Can you picture it? Sure you can. We’ve all seen some really scary remodeling choices —on Zillow, on Instagram, or sadly, maybe even in our own homes.

You can file this under schadenfreude if none of it applies to your house. Or it can serve as a what not to do guide to help you avoid mistakes. If you’re already living one of the nightmare mid-century remodel scenarios I’m about to describe, then let’s focus on the fact that you’re far from alone.

AND there’s hope!

I really believe that a good, solid master plan can bring any mid-century house back from the brink of horror.

Let’s Review: You’re not done DEVELOPing a master plan till the house is done.

31 min readI’m taking July off from recording the podcast this summer but that doesn’t mean YOU have to. In fact, I’m actually pretty excited about what I’ve got planned for you. I took a dip through our deep archives (did you know we have over 250 episodes recorded) and pulled together some throwback episodes that have great content but may be SO FAR BACK in your podcast feed that you’re unlikely ever to hit them. For these four weeks I’ve chosen some fun episode pairings from the past that will take us on a little spin through the master plan method. So sit back and relax and get read to get inspired to do little more for your home and for yourself.

Creating a great vision for your remodel is the goal of everything I do for my clients and with my students. But it actually will only take a mid-century remodel so far.

If that vision lives only in my mind, I can’t share it with my clients.

If that vision only exists in your head, you can share it with anyone who’ll be helping you make your remodel a reality.

So clearly documenting what you’ve designed is a key element to bringing a remodel to fruition.

I could have called the last stage of the master plan method Document. But I didn’t. I called it Develop.

Let’s Review: Distill your style then Draft options to for a Tailored Timeless update

24 min readI’m taking July off from recording the podcast this summer but that doesn’t mean YOU have to. In fact, I’m actually pretty excited about what I’ve got planned for you. I took a dip through our deep archives (did you know we have over 250 episodes recorded) and pulled together some throwback episodes that have great content but may be SO FAR BACK in your podcast feed that you’re unlikely ever to hit them. For these four weeks I’ve chosen some fun episode pairings from the past that will take us on a little spin through the master plan method. So sit back and relax and get read to get inspired to do little more for your home and for yourself.

A great remodel for a mid-century home needs to be a good fit for you.

And it needs to be a good fit … for your mid-century home.

If you don’t make an effort to fit your home to your actual life, you’ll never really feel satisfied with the way things turned out – the house will feel too formal, too closed off, too open for your life.

BUT if you don’t remember to plan a remodel that fits the mid-century era of your home … your too-trendy choices will rapidly become dated ones.

The five mid-century kitchen cabinet questions you need to answer.

To make timeless choices right for you and your house when you replace mid-century kitchen cabinet s you’ll need to choose correctly for your home and your mid-century style.

Choose right and you’ll end up with remodel that will have people wondering which parts are original, which are new, and which are a really slammin 60’s tweak to the house.

Make the WRONG choice or choices and everyone who ever walks into your kitchen will instantly know the year you updated from now until it all ends up in a dumpster to make way for the next new trend.

Trendy choices in mid-century homes always age like milk.

Mid-Century Tile Tutorial

Let’s talk about tile for a mid-century update. You’ve got options. You can go with bold custom color in your favorite shade or recreate a bathroom in powder blue or Mamie pink.

You can get playful with shapes and even textures.

Not to make this scary but … tile choice also runs the risk of tipping into a trend that will ultimately put a timestamp on your whole remodel.

When I’m walking through a remuddled house with a client – one that has one or several very dated remodels layering over it’s original mid-century charm – tile is one of the first things I check to assess what year that remodel went down!

Getting to a Plan for Your Remodel

29 min readA clear plan for your remodel is the key to avoiding stress, staying on budget, and making sure your mid-century home updates improve your daily life.

You’ve been dreaming about updating your mid-century home. But you feel overwhelmed about where to start. Let’s explore how to create a clear plan for your remodel—one that helps you move forward with confidence, avoid costly mistakes, and makes your home work better for you.

What you DON’T need to get to a plan

The best part? You don’t need a 50-page architectural set of blueprints and specifications to make a successful change to your home.

What you do need …

An Architect’s Remodeling Regrets

< 1 min readThis week, I share some of my biggest remodeling regrets and lessons learned from my own mid-century home. Biggest take away? Make small, low-risk updates first and then be sure to create a Masterplan for a remodel you’ll love without the regret.

We all have remodeling regrets.

Yep, even mid-century loving architects like me. And some of my personal regrets helped shape the Mid-Century Masterplan method I now use to help homeowners like you. But it can feel lonely when you’ve made a choice you don’t love.

So this week I decided to get personal and share some of my biggest mistakes in my own home, hoping you’ll feel some solace if you’ve made a mistake. And if you haven’t, you can learn from mine and avoid making the same ones!

Steal Your Mid-Century Style (Part 2/4)

17 min readThere is a right way to steal mid century style ideas. And today we’re planning the perfect mid mod style heist!

Let’s talk the right way to steal mid-century style ideas. Believe it or not there is actually a right way and a wrong way to find your mid mod home improvement inspiration.

Done right, you can light up your mind with great ideas and connect with mid-century homeowners who have walked the path you’re on to find out what they learned.

But done wrong, your search for ideas can lead you into overwhelm, or worse…terminal house envy.

Name Your Mid-Century Remodel Era (Part 1/4)

18 min readQuick! Name your favorite Mid-Century remodel era! Do you love 40’s fab or 50’s space-race or earthy late 60’s vibes?

What is your mid-century remodel era?

I know you are here because you love mid century design. I know this because I love mid century design! And we all love to talk about “mid century” style…and then wonder what does that actually mean in terms of hitting that just right tone in an MCM remodel.

What does Mid-Century Even Mean?

Mid Century is a broad term that covers anything from the immediate postwar building boom, up into the late 60s (or even the early 70s!).

When I’m planning a remodel for a design client, I need to know which end of the mid century era really lights them up in order to create a remodel that is right for them.